Changing Teacher Stance and Empowering Students

1. Changing Teacher Stance and Empowering Students Aaron Hansen Principal, WPMS Twitter @ Aaronhansen77 Email: Aaronhansen77@gmail.com

2. Outcomes for the Session • We will discuss the differences between Delivery-Centered Stance and Student- Centered Stance. • You will learn some of the principles of empowerment for adults and students. • You will be re-inspired!

3. A Guiding Question for the Session With higher expectations for deeper level thinking than ever before, increased levels of accountability, a generation like no other in the world’s history, and an urgency for tangible results NOW, one of the most significant questions we face today is: “How do we empower our students to become truly engaged in their learning?”

4. Reading Activity What are the differences between the… Delivery-Centered Stance and Student-Centered Stance.

5. A Guiding Question for the Session How do we begin changing the stance of teaching and learning so that students begin taking greater ownership of the learning? Learner-Centered Delivery-Centered

6. Delivery-Centered Stance Reinforcing Loop

7. Empowerment This goes beyond “engagement” in the traditional sense that we describe it. “It’s not about compliance with the activity but ownership of the learning.”

8. Pod 3 An example to illustrate…

9. The Numbers… Independent Learning Group Average MAP Growth: +9.33 Traditional Class Average MAP Growth: +2.7

10. The keys… • The outcomes were made CRYSTAL CLEAR. (PLC question #1) and communicated to students. • Students had access to regular feedback, specific to the learning target. • Students knew how to use the resources available to them. • Students bought into the idea.

11. With your learning partner… Is there an application for your students?

12. “Well that might work with somestudents… BUT! What about “those” students?”

13. The psychology of interventions “Fixed Mindsets” “Far earlier than we are willing to admit, we condition children to think that their status is set.” -Ray McNulty, President, International Center for Leadership in Education

14. A little story about Cody… Cody had a “fixed mindset” In conversation Cody explained- “I’m never going to get out of here.” How do we help kids like Cody transform their “fixed mindsets” into a “growth mindset”?

15. A Guiding Question for the Session How do we begin changing the stance of teaching and learning so that students begin taking greater ownership of the learning? Learner-Centered Delivery-Centered

16. Let’s Talk about PLC question #3 Targeted Intervention We have to get specific! My team is teaching students to add fractions. We assess… (PLC Question # 2) One of my students is struggling. Now what?

17. Targeted Intervention I determine he is struggling with adding fractions. We need to determine (assess) what exactly he is struggling with. How?

18. Targeted Intervention Let’s say that we determine that a root to his problem is that he struggles finding common denominators. Through further task analysis (assessment), we discover he struggles with multiplication in general. Now what?

19. Targeted Intervention My student struggles with multiplication. Now what? Conventional wisdom would say, have him practice his multiplication tables. – DUH! Yes, but…

20. Targeted Intervention …have him practice his 7’s. Where many schools make mistakes are: 1. They don’t determine specifically enough what the deficit really is. 2. They don’t get clear themselves on the learning target nor do they communicate the learning target in crystal clear terms to the student (and parents).

21. Where many schools make mistakes: 3. They do not “target” the intervention for that specific deficit. Practice your 7’s. 4. They don’t provide immediate feedback to the student in relation to the standard.

22. “Well that might work with somestudents… BUT! What about “those” students?”

23. More of Cody’s story… “Clarify the expectations in order to liberate hope.” -Steve Constantino, Family Friendly Schools

24. The keys to success... • Clear and attainable (chunked) learning targets. • Regular feedback, specific to the learning target. • Students were given the supports that they needed and resources to help them. • Students bought into idea and were celebrated when they met the target.

25. Delivery Centered Stance VS. Learner Centered Stance As we begin to rethink our personal approach and the system we provide, we can begin to empower students to better own their learning.

26. “Growth Mindset” = Hope “I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It’s my personal approach that creates the climate. It’s my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or deescalated and a child humanized or dehumanized...” - HiamGinott

27. Do we really believe? If we really believe that all students can learn at high levels like we say we do, and we believe that we control enough of the variables to make a difference… …then the challenge is really about transforming our system including our instruction so that we meet the needs of ALL students.

28. With your learning partner… How could you apply the principles we have talked about so far that lead to student empowerment? Some of the principles of empowerment we’ve discussed so far are: • Making the outcomes crystal clear. • Assessing what the true deficit is. • Targeting the intervention. • Providing timely feedback relative to the learning target. • Changing the stance of teaching. • Celebrating students when they meet the target. • …and more.

29. Empowering Students is bigger than just learning how to add fractions. When we develop a growth mindset for our students we are giving them hope for a better future. Empowerment is a story about self-efficacy.

30. Self-efficacy “Perceived self-efficacy is defined as people's beliefs about their capabilities to produce designated levels of performance that exercise influence over events that affect their lives. Self-efficacy beliefs determine how people feel, think, motivate themselves and behave.” -Bandura, Encyclopedia of human behavior, 1998

31. Self-efficacy “I can do hard things!” -should be something we strive to get every kid to say and mean.

32. Empowering Students is bigger than just learning how to add fractions. When we develop a growth mindset for our students we are giving them hope for a better future. In the case of Cody, we helped him develop a compelling vision for the future and a sense self efficacy to achieve it. So… How does this apply to us as a public education systems as a whole?

33. Empowering students is about giving them hope for a compelling future How does this apply to us as a public education system? To reach the 21st century outcomes we desire, we all know our system needs to change… “To be a teacher is to be a prophet. We are not preparing children for the world we live in but for a future we can barely imagine” - Gordon Brown, Former Dean of MIT Engineering School.

34. Empowering students is about giving them hope for a compelling future How does this apply to us as a system? If our system is people… 1. how do we create a compelling vision that people see, 2. have hope in 3. and are motivated to help create?

35. How do we create a compelling vision of the future and empower others to help create it? Empowerment is… Empowerment is not… “The truth is that the system changes individuals more often than individuals change the system” -Michael Fullan, On Common Ground, 2005

36. How do we create a compelling vision of the future and empower others to help create it? “The truth is that the system changes individuals more often than individuals change the system” -Michael Fullan, On Common Ground, 2005 The systems we create often work against our goals. Often our systems are rule bound and promote a narrow individualized focus, resulting in a sense of powerlessness and hopelessness and disengagement. Do you see evidence of this with students and adults in your system?

37. How do we create a compelling vision of the future and empower others to help create it? • Leaders role: • Be willing to have honest conversations about “moral purpose.” • Trust the intentions of those you lead and collectively build a compelling vision for the future • Pull away barriers (rule bound practices) and confront narrowly focused practices • Accountability for specific results, but not necessarily prescribing all processes. Loose tight leadership. • Other??? “The truth is that the system changes individuals more often than individuals change the system” -Michael Fullan, On Common Ground, 2005

38. Do we really believe? If we really believe that all students can learn at high levels like we say we do, and we believe that we control enough of the variables to make a difference… … …then the challenge is really about transforming our system including our instruction so that we meet the needs of ALL students.

39. Do we really believe?

40. Sometimes believing is a choice. " Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most. That people are basically good. That honor, courage and virtue mean everything ; that power and money ... money and power mean nothing. That good always triumphs over evil. And I want you to remember this.... that love....true love never dies ! Remember that boy ... remember that. Doesn't matter if it is true or not, a man should believe in those things , because those are the things worth believing in...... got that ? “ -Second Hand Lions

41. Do we really believe? Yes… …because the Codys of the world need us to believe in them. They need us to believe in ourselves. They need us to believe that we can change the system. I’m ready for systemic change. Are you?

42. Providing a System of Empowerment for Students and Adults Aaron Hansen Principal, WPMS Twitter @ Aaronhansen77 Email: Aaronhansen77@gmail.com

43. A couple classrooms where the teacher is changing the stance:http://bit.ly/H8zJVmhttp://bit.ly/HnRnmiA student who is empowered and is empowering others! http://bit.ly/Hh6Vet

44. Defenders Program Students at WPMS discuss one way in which they’ve been empowered: http://bit.ly/Hh6Vet